Curriculum Vitae (Dec 2012)
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Curriculum Vitae (Dec 2012) Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg Paulus Buysstraat 13 2334 CH Leiden Born 19-06-1965, Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands Three children, born 1993 (Jacob), 1994 (Maartje), and 1998 (Anne) e-mail: [email protected] Degrees MA degree (March 1989): Leiden University, Center for Child and Family Studies Main subject: Attachment and maternal structuring PhD degree (October 1993): Leiden University, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences; Supervisor (‘Promotor’): Prof. dr M.H. van IJzendoorn Title of thesis: Het Gehechtheidsbiografisch Interview (‘The Adult Attachment Interview: Psychometric analyses’) Work experience since graduating 1993- 2004, Assistant Professor, Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University 2004 - 2007, Associate Professor, Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University 2007 - present, Full Professor, Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University Research Summary of main research interests As part of my PhD study on the reliability and discriminant validity of the Adult Attachment Interview we invited about 90 first-time mothers to the institute. Three of them appeared to have more than one child: they had twins. Our interest had been aroused: would these twin siblings show similar attachment behaviours to their mothers (and corresponding to their mothers’ attachment representations)? The larger group of mothers was followed up in order to observe attachment behaviours of the second-born children. Results for the siblings have been reported in Van IJzendoorn et al. (2000). A study on attachment in twins was a rational next step in this line of research, and we studied the relative effects of genetic and environmental factors on infant-mother attachment (Bokhorst et al., 2003), infant-father attachment (Bakermans-Kranenburg, Van IJzendoorn, Bokhorst, & Schuengel, 2004), and on the association between maternal sensitivity and infant attachment security (Fearon et al., 2006). We also started the application of DNA genotyping in the context of the ongoing twin study and several other studies. Part of my job is the coordination and organization of the behavioural and molecular genetics project within the Leiden Attachment Research Program, initiated and supervised by Marinus van IJzendoorn. 1 Our growing interest in the interplay between nature and nurture has led to several studies on gene-environment interaction, with a special focus on the ‘differential susceptibility’ of children to rearing influences. Our series of molecular genetic studies on the role of Dopamine D4 Receptor gene polymorphisms did not show genetic main effects, but suggested vulnerability of children with the DRD4-7R allele to adverse environmental influences. We demonstrated increased levels of externalising behaviour problems and disorganised attachment for children with the DRD4-7R allele and environmental risk (Bakermans-Kranenburg & Van IJzendoorn, 2006; Van IJzendoorn & Bakermans- Kranenburg, 2006). However, these children were not only vulnerable to environmental risk, they also showed remarkably positive outcomes when they received supportive care. Our results suggest that the supposed vulnerability of carriers of the DRD4-7R allele is only part of the story: DRD4 may also be considered as a potential genetic marker of differential susceptibility or biological plasticity in response to environmental influences (Bakermans-Kranenburg & Van IJzendoorn, 2007). Our intervention studies provided preliminary support for this idea: toddlers with the DRD4-7R allele were more affected by experimentally induced changes in the environment than children without the allele. Using the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD, Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Van IJzendoorn, 2008; Van Zeijl et al., 2006), we found that the intervention was particularly effective for children with the DRD4 7-R allele, both in terms of decreased externalizing behavior and in terms of lower daily cortisol levels (Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., 2008a, 2008b), a stress hormone that at this age is positively related to externalizing problem behavior (Alink et al., 2008). At the same time we found heightened susceptibility to environmental influences of children with difficult temperaments (in non-overlapping samples): They displayed more variance in their physiological reactions to fear-inducing film clips dependent on the quality of the parent-child relationship (Gilissen et al., 2008) they showed a stronger association between parental sensitivity and decrease of early childhood externalizing problems (Van Zeijl et al., 2007), and they were more responsive to experimentally induced changes in maternal sensitivity (Klein Velderman et al., 2006). Intervention studies as experimental manipulations of the environment have their natural place in this line of research, as has our interest in parenting. We identified a molecular genetic basis of human parenting: dopamine-related genes (DRD4, COMT) affected parents’ susceptibility to environmental stressors in relation to their parenting behaviour (Van IJzendoorn, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Mesman, 2008). We thus extended the intriguing findings on the molecular genetics of parenting in rodents and nonhuman primates to humans. Following this line of research on the neurobiology of parenting, we examined the underlying mechanisms of adults’ intended caregiving responses to systematically varied cry sounds, using an experimental design in an adult twin study. We found that experimentally manipulated oxytocin levels decreased amygdala activity in response to infant cry sounds, and increased activation in the insula and inferior frontal gyrus pars triangularis, thus reducing activation in the neural circuitry for anxiety and aversion, and increasing activation in regions involved in empathy. 2 Lastly, since both temperamental reactivity and dopamine-related genes emerged repeatedly as potential susceptibility factors, our aim for the future is to test whether these temperamental and genetic factors are independent, which of them shows the largest explanatory power for differential susceptibility, and how they operate perhaps in an additive or even interactive way. Honours and awards Member of the KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) since 2012. Price for best scientific article published in an international journal 2011, awarded by the Institute for the Study of Education and Human Development (ISED): Out, D., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., & Van IJzendoorn, M.H. (2011). Physiological reactivity to infant crying. Genes, Brain & Behavior, 9, 868-876. American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s Best Article in Child Maltreatment Award 2011 (with Stoltenborgh, Euser, and Van IJzendoorn: “A global perspective on child sexual abuse: meta-analysis of prevelance around the world”) awarded at the APSAC conference in Chicago on June 29th 2012. Award for best dissertation 2009-2011 PhD student D.Out. Title of dissertation: “Parenting unraveled: predictors of infant attachment and responses to crying.” Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University. American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s Outstanding Research Article Award 2010 (with Cyr, Van IJzendoorn, and Euser: “Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating and high-risk families: A series of meta- analyses”) awarded at the APSAC conference in Philadelphia on July 15th 2011. NWO - VICI laureate 2009/2010. Grant for outstanding senior researchers who have shown that they have the ability successfully to develop their own innovative lines of research and to act as coaches for young researchers Best Article Award ISED 2007. For: “ Social Development from Infancy to Adolescence: Longitudinal and Concurrent Factors in an Adoption Sample”. Developmental Psychology, 42, 1143-1153 (with Jaffar-Bimmel, Juffer, Van IJzendoorn, &, Mooijaart). Bowlby-Ainsworth Award 2005 (New York Attachment Consortium & The Center for Mental Health Promotion). The Bowlby-Ainsworth Award recognizes founders and singular contributors to the Bowlby-Ainsworth tradition of attachment theory and research. April 2005. NWO - VIDI laureate 2004. Grant for outstanding young researchers who are among the top 10-20% of their peer group ISED-SCHEIDEGGER award for best PhD related paper (in Developmental Psychology, 1993) Reviewing Associate editor Attachment and Human Development 3 Editorial Advisory Board International Journal of Psychology Child: Care, Health and Development External examiner PhD thesis Mark Tomlinson, The University of Reading, UK (September 2004) PhD thesis Rebecca McErlean, University of New South Wales (Sept 2012) Publications Publications were cited more than 3000 times (source: ISI Web of Science, June 2012, for titles and abstracts under the author names: kranenburg mj OR bakermans-kranenburg mj OR bakermans* mj); publications based on my PhD thesis were cited more than 100 times. Publications are presented below in five categories: (a) Publications in international (refereed) journals, (b) Publications in national (refereed) journals, (c) Books and contributions to books, (d) Contributions to Dutch books, and (e) Other (invited lectures, symposia, papers). (a) Publications in international (refereed) journals in press Cassibba, R., Sette, G., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., & Van IJzendoorn, M.H. (in press). Attachment the Italian way: In search of specific patterns of infant and adult attachments in Italian typical